“You know what? If that fish has been stuck there for a couple days, it can stand another couple minutes.”

A man walked through the big swinging doors, and I went up to him. “There’s a problem with the fish,” I said.

“I’m a doctor here,” he said in alarm.

Then the nurse came back, with a second woman in tow. A small woman, with short hair and wrinkles around her eyes and her mouth. Some deep emotion registered on her face when she saw us. She marched toward us. She didn’t waste anything. Not words, not energy.

“Let’s see the picture,” she said.

Tuck handed it to her.

“That’s him,” she said and looked up at me, looked me in the eye, looked completely and unguardedly for a long moment. “I don’t know where he is either. Welcome to the club.”

“We know where he is,” I said.

She took a deep breath. “He’s dead, isn’t he?”

“God, no. What do you mean? He’s very much alive.”

She let out her breath. She swiped at her eyes with one tan, wrinkled hand.

“How’d you end up with this photo?” she asked. “Who even are you?”

“I’m Lydia. Who are you?”

“I’m his mother,” she said. “That’s who.”

I stared at her. “You must have been out of your mind with worry.” Then I felt the question tumbling out. “What’s his name?” I asked before she could say anything. “His real name.”

She looked at me.

“Anthony,” she said, and I was sure she wanted to say his name as much as I wanted to hear it. “Anthony Evan Coletti.”

Chapter 27

27

The room at the end of the hallway was bright and sunny, with pink walls, and white sheets, and a vase of lilies on the windowsill. It was lined with machines and monitors, several of which were hooked up to the woman in the bed. She was sleeping, and Cole’s mother didn’t pay her any attention after giving her a quick glance through the doorway when we got there. We sat on folding chairs in the hallway just outside the room, speaking softly. My heart was racing, each beep and click of the machine in the room a little trigger setting off bursts of adrenaline. Anthony. Anthony. Anthony with a mother?

I looked into the room where the woman in the bed slept. Who was she? I looked at Cole’s mother, and she looked at me.

“So?” she said. And when I didn’t say anything, she shook her head. “Where has he been?” she asked us.

“Wolf Island,” I told her. “Since August.”

She blinked.

“It’s off of Cape Cod,” I offered.

“I know where it is. Why would he go there?” she said.

“I’ve been trying to figure out the same thing,” I said.

“I haven’t been there in a long time.”